Yu-Gi-Oh: 10 Best Zombie Monsters (2024)

Ever since Joey Wheeler threw down with Bonz in the Duelist Kingdom, Zombie monsters have been part of Yu-Gi-Oh. But they’ve also unfortunately been one of the least respected Types in the game, as generally, we don’t get to see very much of them outside of the most casual of decks. There are only a few zombie archetypes, and both the first and second zombie structure decks were pretty bad.

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But that doesn’t mean the Type is completely terrible. In fact, some of the best monsters in the game today are zombies. As we get closer to Halloween, let’s take a look at some of Yu-Gi-Oh’s most powerful zombie monsters.

10 SPIRIT REAPER

Pay some respect to one of the oldest and most effective zombie cards in the game. It’s not played these days, but Spirit Reaper was a key card in countless decks back in the day. Though it only had a tiny 300 ATK, it didn’t really need to have more. The card couldn’t be destroyed by battle, meaning getting rid of it was pretty difficult without some form of spot removal.

The key to it was that if it dealt direct damage to the enemy, it forced them to randomly discard a card. With cards being such a precious resource, even one or two of these attacks were enough to ruin an opponent’s entire strategy.

9 UNI-ZOMBIE

First off, Uni-Zombie is a tuner, and honestly, there aren’t nearly enough of those in this game for Zombies. But it’s got a great effect as well. While on the field, players can make Uni-Zombie gain a level by discarding a card from their hand.

It can also raise the level of any zombie on the field by targeting one Zombie monster and sending a Zombie monster from the deck to the grave. This offers some very specific modulation to allow a number of Synchro and Xyz plays that you wouldn't otherwise have access to.

8 ZOMBIE MASTER

Zombie Master has fallen somewhat out of favor with zombie decks these days, but he’s still an amazing card. At 1800 ATK he can run over most level 4 or lower monsters, but his effect is what really makes him important.

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Zombie Master can send a monster from the hand to the graveyard to special summon a level 4 or lower Zombie monster in either player’s graveyard. Having this and Mezuki in hand essentially gives players three monsters on the field with a single normal summon.

7 MEZUKI

What’s a zombie deck without Mezuki, one of the oldest support cards the archetype has? It’s fairly beefy at 1700 ATK, but that’s not what makes it special. It can banish itself from the graveyard to target and special summon a Zombie monster in the grave.

This works within nearly every deck, and especially makes itself useful within Shiranui, a Zombie deck which is based around banishing and returning banished cards.

6 GLOW-UP BLOOM

Because Glow-Up Bulb needed a zombie version. Glow-Up Bloom can be sent to the graveyard via any method, then banish itself to add a level 5 or higher Zombie from the deck to the hand.

This is helpful, but it doesn’t exactly elevate the deck since usually, players don’t want to draw into higher-level monsters. However, Glow-Up Bloom also says if Zombie World is on the field, special summon the monster instead. It’s this additional card that offers a boon to zombie decks running higher level monsters.

5 GHOST REAPER & WINTER CHERRIES

The ultimate side deck card for meta players everywhere. Ghost Reaper and Winter Cherries is a hand trap that lets its owner reveal a card in their extra deck, then look at the opponent’s Extra Deck and banish all cards with the name of the revealed card.

This can be expected in any match-up at your average tournament when a player is running a top tier deck, and the results can be especially punishing if the player doesn’t have a backup plan.

4 RED-EYES ZOMBIE NECRO DRAGON

There’s a Red-Eyes for everything. A Red-Eyes vanilla, multiple big boss Red-Eyes, and a Red-Eyes Xyz. So, of course, there’s a Red-Eyes synchro, and it happens to a synchro boss monster for zombies. It’s got a simple enough effect, gaining 100 ATK and DEF for every zombie in either graveyard.

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But like a good zombie, it’s also got a theft effect, which allows the owner of this card to special summon a zombie from either grave to the field if a zombie monster is destroyed by battle. This creates the impression of an ever-growing zombie army.

3 GHOST BELLE & HAUNTED MANSION

Another of those incredible ghost girls. Though not quite as dangerous as her sister Ash Blossom, Ghost Belle is still a powerful effect that hits three types of cards at once. It can negate an effect that would add a card from the graveyard to the hand, deck, or extra deck.

It can also negate the special summon of a monster from the grave, and finally, it can negate an effect that would banish a card from the graveyard. Though still widely used, this card isn’t nearly as popular as Ash Blossom, but it can ruin the day of any graveyard or banish zone dependent deck.

2 SHIRANUI SOLITAIRE

The worst thing about cards that work outside of their original archetype is that it’s more likely the card becomes touched by the ban list, making the original archetype weaker as a result. The best thing about them is that it usually means they’re excellent cards.

Solitaire is one such card, tributing a zombie on the field to special summon a zombie tuner with 0 DEF from the deck. Within its archetype, it can also special summon a banished Shiranui monster if it gets banished itself. This card can easily make plays happen when they would otherwise seem impossible.

1 ASH BLOSSOM & JOYOUS SPRING

This isn’t even up for debate. There’s no deck even remotely competitive that doesn’t try to use this if they can. It’s an all-purpose hand trap that hasn’t dropped down past six dollars, despite multiple reprints. That’s because it can do the job of three other cards, by negating the effects of cards that add cards from the deck to the hand, cards that special summon from the deck, and cards that send a card from the deck to the graveyard.

It’s unfair how many cards that hits, and there’s almost no deck this can’t be used on to stop plays. Zombies might not be competitive, but their best card sure is.

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